New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday extended till September 2 the stay on the release on bail of Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan who is accused in money laundering cases.
The bail was granted earlier by the Bombay High Court. A bench of justices Altamas Kabir and SS Nijjar extended the stay after Additional Solicitor General Haren Rawal, at the fag end of the day-long hearing on the black money issue, told the court that the stay granted earlier would expire on August 26.
The bench then extended the stay till September 2 as the hearing on the issue would resume on September 1.
The apex court had on August 16 stayed till August 26, the bail granted to Hassan Ali by the Bombay High Court on August 12.
The court had passed the order on a petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate challenging the high court's order granting bail to Khan who has been accused in various money laundering cases.
"The documents reveal that Hasan Ali Khan has huge funds in his accounts to the extent of 800 million US dollars with a bank outside India," the Enforcement Directorate contended.
The agency, in its petition, alleged various transactions led by Khan through his foreign bank accounts reveal his association with international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.
"The documents point to deep linkage between Khan and Khashoggi," the agency further said while pressing for stay on the Bombay High Court's order granting bail to Khan.
The high court had granted bail to Khan on August 12 after observing that the agency had failed to show the wealth amassed by him was proceeds of crime.
ED had said Khan and his arrested accomplice Kashinath Tapuriah had deep links with bank officials in the US, Switzerland, Singapore, UAE and other countries.
It had alleged that in 2003, $300 million was apparently received by him from the arms dealer from weapon sales.
It had also said the accused had created a complex maze of structures and transactions to hide the true source of funds and frustrate the investigations.
Meanwhile, during today's hearing, senior counsel Anil Divan sought dismissal of the application moved by the Centre for recalling the apex court's July 4 order directing the setting up of SIT comprising retired SC judges justice BP Jeevan Reddy and MB Shah to unearth the black money stashed abroad.
He said the apex court had rightly constituted as even the Centre had at that time admitted that the investigations were not proceeding in the right direction.
"That was the finding of the court on the basis of the concurrence of the petitioner and the government. The merits of the findings cannot be questioned by way of a recall petition," he argued.
The arguments would resume on September 1.
Comments
0 comment